Experiencing Grief on the Road to Emmaus

Experiencing Grief on the Road to Emmaus

The pathway of grief is a very difficult road upon which to travel.   It is best to travel this road with someone else.  The Bible tells us to “weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.”  Accordingly, I pledged to Sister Deborah that we, her Cambria church family, will walk with her.  We will also walk with this extended bereaved family.

I pray, pastorally and personally, you will find comfort in a rather familiar passage at the end of the gospel of Luke.  In the account of “The Road to Emmaus” (Luke 24:13-35), the evangelist shares a story of grief and bewilderment of two relatively unknown disciples as they leave Jerusalem after the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth.  They are leaving on the morning of the third day, following the crucifixion of Jesus.  As they head toward the village of Emmaus, Cleopas and the other unnamed disciple begin to discuss everything that happened over the course of the weekend.  One imagines they meticulously detail the arrests, trials, crucifixion and death of Jesus of Nazareth.  Perhaps, Cleopas confesses his deep regret that the One in whom he had placed his hopes was now dead.  Grief stricken and flabbergasted, Cleopas holds nothing back about how much he had hoped that Jesus of Nazareth was the long-awaited Messiah whom the nation of Israel expected to restore her former glory parallel to the reigns of David and Solomon.

Interestingly, a stranger joins them on their walk of bereavement.  Actually, the text reveals that He is not a stranger at all.  “As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them.”  However, “they were kept from recognizing him.”  I posit that the depth of their grief blinded them from seeing the risen Lord.  It was as if grief were a dense and protracted fog that hovered over their consciousness.

Nonetheless, however veiled from the sight of their natural and spiritual eyes, the Lord joins them on the road of their bereavement.  He asks a simple question, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”  Phrased another way, he asks, “What’s on your mind?” 

Luke records their faces were downcasts.  Cleopas asks the Lord if He does not know the things that took place over the weekend.  Cleopas then states his failed hope.  “We had hoped that he [Jesus of Nazareth] was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”  Moreover, Cleopas recounts the story of how the women had gone to the tomb early that morning “but didn’t find his body.  They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.”  What is more, some of their male companions in turn went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women had described it.  Nevertheless, this dual account of the resurrection was not powerful enough to penetrate their grief and disperse the fog of their agony.

Ironically, they are leaving Jerusalem on the first Easter Sunday.  They are heading toward the sunset with the hope of making it to Emmaus before dark.  As they walk, they simply relive their dreams and expectations of Jesus of Nazareth.  They rehearse their heartfelt desires for the restoration of Israel to her former glory amongst the nations of the world.  

Experiencing Grief on the Road to Emmaus - Part II

Experiencing Grief on the Road to Emmaus – Part II

They probably talk about everything that they gave up in order to invest in the movement of Jesus of Nazareth.  Understandably, they are so overtaken by anger, regret, fear, doubt and loss that they do not possess the mental and emotional muscle to believe the resurrection accounts of the women and their male companions.  Their amazement that an extraordinary miracle worker could be put to death leads them to return to their former lives to salvage what is left. 

Graciously, the Lord continues to walk with them.  As He does, he explains the scriptures to them.  Thereby, He dries their tears and opens their eyes, the eyes of their hearts, to the amazing grace of Almighty God.  He teaches them the fundamental lesson of redemptive suffering.  He asks the penetrating, rhetorical question, “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”

You will recall Luke does not name the second disciple.  The evangelist purposefully omits his name because he knew that anyone could be that disciple.  I assume Mrs. Providence’s death leaves you with similar depths of grief.  You might have a treasure trove of unfulfilled hopes and dreams.  Perhaps, you have so much that you wish to say and so much more that you wish you had said.  Quite simply, you may be left with that awful question, “Why?”

Yet, as Cleopas, his companion and the Lord near the village of Emmaus around supper time, they decide to have a meal and get some rest.  They urge the Lord to stay with them for the evening.  As they begin to eat, their eyes are open and they finally recognize the risen Lord.  Then, they realize that their hearts had burned previously when the Lord had opened the truth and promises of scripture to them.  Furthermore, they appreciate that He had walked with them throughout the seven mile journey of bereavement from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  More significantly, they acknowledge that their grief had blinded them to the comforting and sustaining presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I pray that you will soon recognize and feel the presence of Christ in the midst of your difficult hour.  May the word of God be revealed to you in new ways in order to provide you with hope, spiritual sustenance and the unfailing love of our Savior as you journey forward without the physical presence of Mrs. Providence.

Finally, Cleopas and his companion, after receiving the revelation of the risen Lord, return to Jerusalem to proclaim the truth of the resurrection accounts.  They realize that they had left Jerusalem on the first Easter Sunday in a cloud of grief headed toward the sunset.  But, Almighty God in His infinite wisdom, unfailing love and unerring grace, came to them on the road of their bereavement and turned them back toward the sunrise of a new day and the resurrection of a new life.

Happy New Year 2011 - Many Happy Returns to You and Yours!!!!

Happy New Year 2011 – Many Happy Returns to You and Yours!!!!

As a New Year nears, I suggest we resist the perennial temptation to make resolutions about changes and self-improvements.  Most people abandon their New Year’s resolutions relating to dieting, weight loss and exercise by the third week of January.  It seems making these bold proclamations of definitely living a new life is a meaningless ritual.  Rather, I recall Rhonda Britten’s encouraging and empowering acronym, RISK: Release your expectations, Invest in your intentions, Stand for the Truth in all situations and Keep love in everything that you do.  In the year 2011, I suggest we take an “existential RISK of faith,” in the words of the Protestant theologian, Paul Tillich.  Let us live each daily to its fullest. 

You may recall the sage advice of an old friend of mine who refers to expectations as “premeditated resentments.”  Because other people cannot possibly fulfill the minute desires and particular nuances of our expectations, we usually resent whatever effort they make.  First, let God and people surprise you as you let go of all expectations.  Second, we achieve the desires that are borne within our heart of hearts.  They are the dreams and goals that we genuinely and stalwartly intend to accomplish during our earthly journeys.  So, we make the very best use our time, talent, treasure and temperament when we invest in our heartfelt intentions rather than sulk about unfulfilled expectations. 

Third, accepting the truth about any situation is the primary step in resolving it.  For nearly seventy-six years, the recovery community teaches the first step in healing from an addiction is unconditionally accepting the permanent existence of the addiction.  As a consequence, people who attend recovery meetings begin their personal sharing by stating their names and declaring their addiction.  This daily and practical act of humility encourages and empowers people in recovery to progress spiritually.  It enables them to finds the strength to face daily life without the need of mood altering chemicals and substances.  From their experience, we extrapolate the lesson of living with integrity, humility and principles (moral, ethical, biblical and spiritual) regardless of the challenges and circumstances we face. 

Finally, as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are instruments of His unconditional love toward humankind (John 3:16-21 and 1 John 4:7-21).  We strive to keep Christ’s love in everything we do because love is the most redemptive force on earth.  In 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul describes love’s genuine nature and attributes.  He concludes this great chapter with the blessed assurance that love never fails.  Thus, we cannot fail when we demonstrate Christ’s love.  Summarily, in 2011, let us apply our faith in our Lord and RISK to achieve new life in Him.

“Don’t Leave Before the Miracle!”  Those words of encouragement and empowerment immediately arose within my mind when I briefly consider abandoning a project.  If I faint, then I will not experience the joy of success and the blessed tiredness of completing a challenge.  As I recall this experience, I think of Naaman, the Syrian military leader and leper, whose story is in 2 Kings 5.  Through divine orchestration and intertwined circumstances, purposes and characters inclusive of a nameless nurse and the prophet, Elisha, Naaman eventually receives healing of his leprosy.  Practically, Elisha, in response to Naaman’s appeal for help, instructs this high ranking military ruler to go to the Jordan River and dip seven times.  Insulted by Elisha’s refusal to meet with him directly and flabbergasted by Elisha’s directives for a cure, Naaman initially complains and refuses to dip in the muddy and dirty Jordan.  He questions the prophet’s choice and wonders why he cannot dip in other pristine bodies of water. 

Nonetheless, Naaman finally follows Elisha’s orders.  However, Naaman does not receive healing until he dips seven actual times.  Interestingly, seven is the biblical number of wholeness.  It alludes to the need to persevere in a process of healing until it practically emerges.  Had Naaman failed to dip seven times, the text insinuates that he would not have been healed.  His example teaches the importance of endurance as we engage the process of inner healing and wholeness.  If we abandon the process, we may leave before the miracle happens.

As we meditate upon the Philippians 3:1-16, I enumerate seven practical application suggestions for “Living Down the Past” that I offered in a recent sermon by that title

1. The writings of Norman Vincent Peale offer a practical mantra for eradicating insidiousness and irrationality of fear when striving to neutralize the mistakes and failures of the past: (A) Don’t panic, (B) Get Organized, (C) Pray, (D) Think and (E) Apply the wisdom that you receive.
2. Eliminate negativity from your life.  Watch your words.  Stay positive with the constant and consistent use of encouraging and empowering words.
3. Visualize the life you seek.
4. Unconditionally accept yourself.
5. Use self-evaluation as a spiritual means of building confidence in yourself.
6. Commit unequivocally and irreversibly to success.  Resist the tendency to reach for an “easier and softer way” of succeeding.  Instead, pay any price and go to any lengths to achieve success and excellence.
7. Be resilient.  Practically speaking, this means that you get up as many times as is necessary in order to stay in the race.

Thoughts on the Life of the Late Elizabeth Edwards

Thoughts on the Life of the Late Elizabeth Edwards

As she neared the setting sun on the day of her life, the late Elizabeth Edwards left many messages of hope to her children and extended family, specifically, and the citizens of our nation, generally.  Earnestly, she desired another eight years so that she could attend her youngest son’s high school graduation.  In her moving words stated with great rhetorical flourish, “I want to lead my children to the door of the next chapter of their lives.”  Although she would not receive those eight years, she did not cease to live fully each day.  She opened a furniture store, wrote a second book, gave interviews and speeches of hope and inspiration, bought a smaller house to which she intended to move her family next spring and prepared her children for life without her physical presence.  Moreover, she oversaw the renovations of the house and specifically sought to ensure that her twelve- year-old daughter and ten-year-old son would be most comfortable in their new home.  Mrs. Edwards wanted her children to enjoy the most rewarding childhood despite the ravages of cancer imposing its dastardly emotions and ominous clouds upon the canvass of their lives.  In an interview a few months prior to her death, she revealed that she was writing a letter to her children on how to live.  We learn that its contents spanned such daily and existential details as properly corking a head of cabbage to picking the right church to choosing a mate.  When asked about the most important lesson that she thought her children should learn, she responded “Anyone can handle good times.  It is easy to do so.  But, how do you handle the bad times?  I want them to know how to get through tough times.”  Despite her body being ravaged with pain and learning eventually that modern medical treatments are insufficient to cure her disease; Mrs. Edwards found purpose and hope.  Ironically, as she neared death, she taught many lessons on how to have hope and find meaning in daily life.

Elizabeth Edwards, in speaking about her faith and the great loss of her late son, Wade, said that she hoped to have a faith that enables her to see her son again.  Her statement is the layperson’s humble request for the fulfillment of scripture’s promises of resurrection.  I consider her desire as the ultimate fulfillment of an Ephesians 3:20 faith.  We believe that Almighty God will accomplish the unimaginable in our lives by granting us the promise of resurrection, reunion and eternal life.  Can you imagine the indescribable eternal reality of transliteration into a non-corporeal eternal body which transcends unconditionally all human limitations?  What about seeing all members of that “great cloud of witnesses” who preceded us to eternity?  How about moving into an eternal mansion built to your unique specifications and preferences?  Can you imagine seeing the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as He is? 

Further, I find hope in Elizabeth Edwards whose very personal and difficult struggle with cancer became a prism of encouragement and empowerment for fellows sufferers and their families.  Still, I marvel at her willingness to commit to a presidential campaign in 2007 upon learning that her period of remission had ended and her cancer had returned.  What an incredible act of humility!  Unaware of the concurrent infidelities of her husband of thirty years, she subordinated her physical pain and emotional adversity to his political ambition.  I surmise her stalwart love both motivated and empowered her to make such a monumental choice.  At a press conference announcing the decision, she stated “We have always been people who find the silver lining in everything.” 

Love, as defined in 1 Corinthians 13, enables you to be grateful and find positive, affirming aspects in every challenge.  Nevertheless, she exemplified selflessness and sacrifice as she wholeheartedly supported her husband and the father of their children.  In addition, she lived her understanding of forgiveness for her husband after his scandalous affair inclusive of the birth of a child was exposed to the nation.  I greatly appreciated her willingness to be honest and hard about her feelings of betrayal.  She avoided any clichés and sentimentality.  She found the grace to give Christmas gifts to her husband’s daughter.  Yet, she did not allow her husband to accompany her to her cancer treatments.  “I am not able to allow him to have that level of closeness.”  More amazingly, she refused to denigrate her former husband and the father of her children in their eyes.  In fact, she left clear instructions that he would rear them upon her death.  She did not attempt to deprive him of full custody.  Lest I gloss over what must have been an incredible source of pain, she undoubtedly remained angry and disappointed to the very end.  However, she did not seem to extract revenge.  She accepted the fact that “my husband became someone other than the man whom I married.”  Yet, she chose to focus upon the attributes of his character that she still respected.  Summarily, she lived her forgiveness of him despite her choice of other words.  Interestingly, her life teaches genuine and enduring love is the foundational basis of forgiveness.

The Quiet Crucible of Your Very Personal and Private Sufferings

The Quiet Crucible of Your Very Personal and Private Sufferings

The gospel singer and recording artist, Wintley Phipps, offers a very encouraging word prior to singing an inimitable rendition of my most favorite hymn, “It is Well with My Soul.”  “In the quiet crucible of your personal, private sufferings, your noblest dreams are born and God’s greatest gifts are given in compensation for what you have been through.”  As the profundity of this quote negates any need for additional commentary and elaboration, I simply suggest that you meditate upon it.

As you begin a new week, I pray that you will proceed confidently to handle your myriad affairs with the blessed assurance that each circumstance affords you another opportunity to experience the existence and presence of God as revealed in His undeniable faithfulness.

As I reflect upon the previous quote, I think of the author who suggests ‘pain is the touchstone of all spiritual progress.”  When I consider it in the context of Ephesians 3:20, I imagine that it is possible to enjoy a totally free life!  Whereas the Lord assures us that we will have trials and tribulations in this life, it is possible to experience God’s peace, joy and liberty.  Mysteriously and majestically, God transforms our pain and fear, anger, and resentment that usually accompany our injuries.  Chances are most of us negotiate a truce with perpetual pain in our lives.  Counselors characterize this tendency as a willingness to accept the “pathology of familiarity” which translates practically into daily dealing with “normal sicknesses – mental, emotional, spiritual and psychological” without any expectation of healing, resolution or wholeness.  The promise of Christmas assures us pain possesses spiritual and personal purposes.  The gift of our Lord’s coming yields encouragement and empowerment that we can live to the fullest of creativity and abilities.   Awaking daily to a life that is “happy, joyous and free” probably seems unimaginable and unachievable.  Yet, Christmas assures us that Almighty God offers this miracle in the gift of Emmanuel, God with us, who comes and dwells with us.  Literally, this means that the Lord Jesus Christ tabernacles with us. He practically joins us in the wilderness of life, sets up a tent and journeys with us as we travel our path.  This Christmas, I pray that we will allow the Holy Spirit to begin the work of a miracle within each of us.

As we progress in the 2010 Christmas season, let us ponder the unimaginable while considering the Incarnation of Christ, the blessedness of Advent and the gift of the Son of God as points of reference to substantiate the biblical claim of Ephesians 3:20.

Concluding Thoughts on Advent and Christmas 2010 - Part I

Concluding Thoughts on Advent and Christmas 2010

The Advent season affords perennial opportunity to express gratitude to Almighty God for the gift of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  It is also a time when we share His sacrificial love with everyone.  Most regrettably, the crass commercialization of Christmas potentially undermines its divine intention.  Yet, we as disciples and members of Christ’s Church which He purchases with His very own blood face the perpetual challenge of resisting the pitfalls of enriching the world’s financial and social system which ardently opposes the values and principles of the gospel of Christ.  As you shop and prepare to give, remember to ground your activities in the biblical purposes of Christmas.

Some time ago, I read a very moving story in one of the multi-volume and multimillion selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series.  The story details a father’s sacrificial love for his son during Christmastime.  He learns that his son wants an autographed copy of a poster of a famous football player who happens to be one of the most sought-after sports celebrities.  His fame and the demand of admirers exponentially raise the price of this signed poster.  Yet, the man’s son really wants a copy.  Narrating the story in retrospect on the occasion of Father’s Day, the son remembers that winter as particularly cold and harsh.  He further recalls his father owning an inadequate coat to shelter his body from the fierce natural elements.  Actually, he and his father had originally gone to the mall in pursuit of a sale on winter outwear.  As they browsed, the son reiterated his desire for the autographed poster.  Remaining true to the purpose of the trip, the father purchased the jacket; they left the mall and headed home. 

As the big entrance doors closed, in the shaded light of the parking lot, the father focuses upon the entrenched disappointment and perhaps hurt on his beloved son’s face.  He ponders his son’s feelings as they walk over blackened ice and snow toward their car.  Just as they approach the doors, the father tells his son that he forgot something important inside.  They do an about face and return to the mall.  The father instructs the son to wait near the entrance as he retrieves the left item.  Minutes pass, then the father appears with a big bag containing a large flat item.  Later, not surprisingly, the father gives the son the sacrificial gift that his heart desires.  The mist of the son’s surprise and utter delight and the fog of his innocence and immaturity combine to blind him to the real cost of the autographed poster.  Beyond the money, the son’s gift required a season’s worth of chattering teeth, ashen and cracked skin, and numerous lengthy periods of cold discomfort as the father had exchanged his much needed winter coat to erase his son’s unhappiness.  As a grown man and father himself, the son later acknowledges the incalculable and sacrificial expense of that poster.

In recounting this story, I immediately draw connections with Christmas.  Our Heavenly Father, in the gift of His One and Only Begotten Son, makes an ultimate sacrifice of Himself.  Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, exchanges his divinity for humanity in order that He may remove the inherent, irreversible and perpetual death that plagues us.  We are unable to determine the value of His atoning sacrifice.  When we comprehend the mystery, majesty, magnificence and matchless nature of this gift, our response equals the son’s realization in the previous story.  With resounding gratitude, we live to honor the gift and its Giver. 

Concluding Thoughts on Advent and Christmas 2010 - Part II

Concluding Thoughts on Advent and Christmas 2010 – Part II

Advent additionally provides the yearly chance to pause and reflect upon the year which nears its end.  Dr. Luke, the evangelist and author of the third canonical gospel, records in the nineteenth verse of the second chapter (Luke 2:19), “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in here heart.”  As you withdraw from spiritually deadening affects of daily routines, perhaps you will be still and contrast your life today with where you were a year ago.  For Mary, life changes eternally; she becomes the mother of our Lord and Savior.  A year previously, she conceivably had no idea that Almighty God would intervene into her life within the confines of the small, poor, illiterate and down-to-earth village of Nazareth in the region of Galilee. 

Not a respecter of persons, God can incredibly and equally enter your ordinary, bland, and unpretentious life to accomplish a feat that exceeds your wildest imagination.  The angel who visits Mary to announce God’s intentions ends his conversation with her by reaffirming, “Nothing is impossible with God.”  In this blessed season when we celebrate God’s mysterious and magnificent visitation with humankind through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, let’s ponder its limitless possibilities.

Are you pregnant yet?  Most assuredly, I am not asking this question of our teenagers; nor am I making this inquiry of anyone who is not married and seeking to have children as a couple.  Rhetorically, I ask it in the spirit of Christmas and the miracle of the Immaculate Conception.  Amazingly, the angel, Gabriel, comes to Mary to inform her that she will conceive, although she is a virgin, by way of the Holy Spirit.  Almighty God in this miraculous conception deposits His Spirit within an earthen vessel to accomplish the grand plan of salvation.  As He is not a respecter of persons, God can equally impregnate you with the Holy Spirit so that He may birth a new ministry within and fulfill His purpose through you. 

Additionally, pregnancy symbolizes creativity and art.  Christmas reminds us that God can accomplish incredible feats using us notwithstanding our humble human position.  This time of year opens our minds and hearts to divine promises and providence.  Will we risk the emotional and personal commitment to believe that God can do the impossible through us?  Will we allow the Holy Spirit to deposit fertile seeds within us?  Will we seek divine pregnancy?

Soren Kierkegaard, the great and famed Danish theologian whose works espouse the ideas of religious existentialism, refers to the Incarnation of Jesus Christ as the “Great Paradox.”  How does divinity and humanity simultaneously occupy the same body?  Will we ever be able to explain satisfactorily the contradiction of the “God-Man” who dwelled amongst in the “Ideal Person” of Jesus of Nazareth?  Kierkegaard speculates that the birth of Christ is the practical occurrence of “Eternity” (Kairos – divine time) bursting into “Time” (Chronos – human time) and redefining its meaning and purpose.  Scientifically, epistemologically, and rationally, it is impossible for these two very distinct and disparate characters to occupy the same vessel.  Interestingly, the Incarnation is an historical and biblical example of Ephesians 3:20.

God is Doing a New Thing - Part I

God is Doing a New Thing! – Isaiah 43:14-28 Part I

On this first Sunday of the year 2008, a year of new beginnings, hear the encouraging and prophetic promises of Isaiah.  God is doing a new thing in our midst!  With the eyes of the mind and heart, can we see it?  Let’s cultivate the faith and expectancy to receive the mysterious, mystical and majestic work of Almighty God within us, individually, and collectively.  Whereas the prophet straightforwardly instructs us to forget the former things, he does not suggest that we obliterate the past.  If we were to do so, we would actually annihilate the basis of our hope and trust in God.  Rather, he recommends that we do not dwell upon the great deeds of God in our personal and collective history.  Instead, he desires that we look forward with triumphant anticipation and infinite enthusiasm about the future actions of God.  The past records the unquestionable faithfulness of our Heavenly Father.  No one who retrospectively considers his or her life can deny the persistent faithfulness of Almighty God throughout every circumstance.  Indeed, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceased; His mercies never came to an end.  His grace was new each and every morning.  Hence, we concur with the hymn writer, “Great is Thy faithfulness O Lord.”  Nevertheless, the prophet insists that God’s past faithfulness foreshadows His future and unending grace.  God’s future glory will exceed greatly His former glory.  Accordingly, God is doing a new thing.  Those hopeful and uplifting words direct us to focus our attention toward the unfolding works of God.

A lengthy pursuit of your heartfelt dreams and goals parallels the arduous period of exile for the Israelites.  Their situation lasts for seventy years.  You will recall the wilderness wandering period consumes forty years and an entire generation of Israelites.  I believe we can thank God that our situation will not last as long as those examples.  Nonetheless, we can relate to their anguish, anger, and aggravation as they long to return to their homeland with its familiarity of culture, tradition, religion and identity.  Inexplicably, the Babylonians came into Jerusalem in 587 BCE and demolished everything that these exiles knew of their language, literature, religion and history.  Although they have been away for a while, they still cannot grasp mentally the extent of the devastation and loss of their history.  Understandably, they ask the obvious question, where was the God about whom they had heard such mighty and legendary stories?  Why did not His great powers prevent this catastrophe? 

Similarly, we undoubtedly ponder what happens to us?  How could we find ourselves embroiled in such a predicament as our current state of affairs?  Were not the hard work and innumerable sacrifices of the past necessary and substantive enough to prevent the occurrence of our failures?  How could circumstances and unscrupulous characters victimize us?  Why did we not see the warning signs that our good faith was not being met with an equal and honorable response?  Moreover, how do we understand that it takes so long to chart successfully a course that ends with success? 

The foregoing questions, those of the Israelites and ours, tempt us to dismiss the hopeful and encouraging words of Isaiah.  As we linger in our destitute state, how can we possibly assert that Almighty God is about to do a new thing?  Cynically, we may even ask, “Why has not He already done it?”  In response to such sarcasm, the prophet points us toward the past.  He encourages us to recall the mighty deeds and perpetual faithfulness of God throughout the years of Egyptian slavery, wilderness wandering, entering the Promised Land and living in exile in Babylon.  The text alludes to the mighty deeds of God during those hard and most difficult challenges for Israel.  They left their bondage in Egypt escaping on dry ground as Yahweh divided the waters of the Red Sea.  Every one of them, from the smallest and youngest child to the oldest adult, walked on solid ground.  Upon arriving on the opposite bank of the Red Sea, they watched the waters return and swallow the pursuing army of Egypt with their mighty chariots, horses and weapons.  As they wander in the wilderness, they receive bread, meat, water and shoes as they need them.  God’s faithfulness supplies them with everything that they need as occasion warrants and they ask.  Moreover, as they enter the Promised Land, this same God again commands the waters to recede so that they may safely cross the Jordan River and inherit the promises of His enduring covenant.  Isaiah cites these historical deeds of God to encourage the people to imagine that He is capable of as many majestic acts in the future as He was in the past. 

God is Doing a New Thing - Part II

God is Doing a New Thing! – Isaiah 43:14-28 Part II

Isaiah’s allusions to the past acts of God enable him to remind the people of the fundamental attributes of Almighty God.  The classical, orthodox definition of God insists upon four simultaneous, substantive and set characteristics: omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence and omnibenevolence.  Accordingly, the prophet declares that he speaks on behalf of “your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”  Yahweh is “the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King.”  He is infinite. He does not have a birth date nor will He have a death date.  He is as infinite as the universe itself.  He, who does not change like shifting shadows or the blowing winds, determines that He will take the atrocity of the Babylonian exile and redeem it toward a useful purpose to accomplish His will and renew His people.  Out of the rubble of this horrific experience, which arguably exceeded the magnitude of Egyptian slavery and the wilderness period, Yahweh will show the nation even greater faithfulness, grace and mercy.  As He works in mysterious ways, He will surprise the people with His magnificence and majesty in unparalleled ways heretofore.  Isaiah’s announcement of the dawn of new things by God derives from the authority of God’s holy, eternal and immutable nature.

The great apostle of love, John, the Beloved Disciple, states straightforwardly that “God is love.”  As a consequence, demonstrating His holy and unconditional love toward His people emerges naturally for Almighty God as He intervenes favorably in their affairs.  In the twenty-third verse, Isaiah tells the people that God obliterates their sinful offenses for God’s own sake.  He refuses to remember this rebellion and infidelity.  Colloquially, God does not record a “rap sheet” on them.  His love cancels the debt of their individual and collective transgressions against the holy character of God.  Practically speaking, God hits the delete button, thereby permanently erasing the totality of the people’s sins that led initially to the Babylonian captivity.  In so doing, God decides that He will do a new thing as the dawn of their return to Jerusalem approaches.  Nevertheless, the people of Israel can rely genuinely and formidably upon the unconditional love of God as the future unfolds.

However, the eighteenth verse presents a perplexing question.  Isaiah says, “Forget the former things and do not dwell upon the past.”  In the ears of seasoned saints, those words may mean that the younger generation may want to “kick the past to the curb.”  Often, the latter group insists upon moving beyond tradition.  Erroneously, they do so without appreciating the riches of the past.  Nonetheless, Isaiah redirects the attention of both groups in the ways in which they interpret the past.  Incessantly dwelling upon the past limits the ability of Almighty God in the eyes of the people who do so.  This tendency speciously arises to believe that God cannot exceed His great deeds of the past.  Thus, we limit an infinite God to a few acts in the past.  Cynics hasten to wonder what will be different in the future.  It is easier to point toward one or two past incidents and polish the memories of them.  In fact, legend which exaggerates these events understandably develops.  Yet, Isaiah appeals to the people to open the eyes of their hearts and look beyond the past.  He recommends that they forget those things in order that they cultivate expectancy for the ways in which God shall exceed His deeds in the past.

God does new things in ways that are unimaginable to us.  Interestingly, He does it in small and mysterious ways.  Isaiah depicts the birth of spring as a mosaic of how intricate and majestic the movement of God can be.  He says that these new occurrences of God will pop up in the most unexpected places.  Also, God often uses people whom we least expect to be the messengers of His grace, peace and love.  In the blockbuster movie, “Hurricane,” Oscar award winning actor, Denzel Washington, depicts the character of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter who finds redemption through the unconditional love of Lesera Martin.  Rubin Carter accepts that his arrogance similar to that of Reuben of Genesis 49 factors significantly in his wrongful conviction and unjust life sentences.  Lesera is a form of the biblical name, Lazarus, the man whom Jesus calls from the dead in John 11.  Lesera purchases Rubin’s bestselling but quickly forgotten book for a quarter at a used book store.  That providential event is the divine catalyst in acquiring Rubin’s exoneration and release from prison.  In that book purchase, God did a new thing in the life of Rubin Carter.  He uses a young and eager boy as the conduit to vindicate an innocent man.  Amazingly, such a small act and amount becomes a significant turning point in the life of a man who was dead existentially.

God is Doing a New Thing!

God is Doing a New Thing! – Isaiah 43:14-28 Part III

Spring burst on the landscape each year without fail.  I recall that a section of our yard in South Carolina was the place where a large group of daffodils would pop out of the ground and trumpet the arrival of spring.  This perennial natural occurrence was more reliable than any weather forecast supported by the state of the art technology of Doppler 4000.  I viewed it as nature’s way of informing the world that new life awaits those who can see it.  Creativity and vitality are all around us.

Likewise, Isaiah employs this natural image to remind us of how subtle God works in our lives.  The new things that unfold in our lives often emerge in the most simplistic way.  We miss them because we expect something grand and melodramatic.  Excessive watching of television and movies regrettably trains us to anticipate picture perfect Kodak moments.  We romanticize everything and expect the circumstances of our lives to progress like drama of a cinematic blockbuster movie with all of the sentimentality and saccharine worldview.  In total contradistinction, Almighty God mysteriously and magnificently embeds the seeds of providence into our lives just as a framer sows natural seeds during the planting season of early spring.  Embedded within our myriad, daily situations, God is doing a new thing.

The second half of the nineteenth verse offers the assurance that God is “making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”  Chances are the seemingly endless years of your pursuit of your ambitions have felt like a desert.  We know the horror of perpetual thirst for success and excellence.  We long to recapture the esteem of past achievements.  We desire the reputation of yesteryear in which some persons characterized us as “the crème de le crème.”  We drank freely from the waters of success and excellence.  Today, we can hardly find a fountain to quench our dried out mouths and very parched throats.  Nevertheless, the Lord says that He will lead us to an oasis.  There, we shall find an infinite supply of living waters that satisfy the soul instead of merely eliminating natural thirst. 

Interestingly, the exilic period was one of the most profitable eras in Israel’s history.  Rather than becoming bitter and allowing their doubts to morph into cynicism and inertia, the Israelites grasped the depth of the threat to their religion, history and literature.  They began to record their stories.  Several of the books of the Old Testament were written during the time of the Babylonian exile.  Lest they lose their culture, heritage and legacy, the Israelites secured it by recording it on scrolls which were in turn treated as national treasures.  They could no longer rely on the memories of the younger generations to tell the great story of God’s enduring covenant with Israel.  Ironically, instead of destroying Israel, the exilic period strengthened her.  God did a new thing through the writing of Israel’s history.  Few of them could have imagined that their quest for religious, historical and literary survival would benefit us. 

On an individual level, it is hard periodically to ascertain the will of God.  A person can feel as if he or she is in exile particularly if such an individual experiences a series of losses.  It is definitely possible to feel disconcerted about one’s relationship with God, specifically, and negatively about life, generally.  In those dry seasons of puzzlement when nothing appears to fall into place, one falls prey to asking the proverbial questions, “Why, Why me, or Why is God allowing this to happen to me?”  In response, theologian, Wendy Farley, insists that the question should be “What am I going to do in light of my predicament?”  She recommends the practice of spiritual disciplines: contemplation, patience, meditation, prayer and living through the “dark night of the soul.”  Farley who writes with the integrity of her personal experience reminds her readers that the Psalter insists that the darkness always yields to the dawn of a new day.  Regardless of one’s ability to define and accept the will of God during periods of personal exile, one must persevere in Farley’s estimation.

The late Adrian Rogers, longtime Pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN, offers five suggestions for persons living in spiritual and existential exile.  First, similar to Farley, Rogers recommends that a person does not try to understand what God is doing.  Second, he suggests that we forsake the tendency to become bitter.  Admittedly, this is very difficult to do in the midst of failure after defeat after loss.  Third, Rogers exhorts us to remain faithful.  Practically and colloquially speaking, “Keep on keeping on,”  Do the last right thing that God instructed and trust Him for greater revelation.  Fourth, formulate a willingness to wait on the Lord as He orchestrates the details of your life.  Fifth, do not let your dreams die because God will not fail you no matter what happens.

I posit that Rogers’ last recommendation provides a great ending.  While we await the necessary resources and good fortunate to ascend the summit of success, we cannot let the dream die.  The dawn of a day nears; we will enter triumphantly the winners circle.  The night of our wilderness period will be over finally.  As we start a new year, let’s do so with the full assurance that God is doing a new thing in us!

The End was in the Beginning - Part I

“The End was in the Beginning” – Thoughts for Advent 2010 Part I

“The end was in the beginning.”  Those words end Ralph Ellison’s classic novel, Invisible Man.  Strangely enough, they describe the birth of Christ in Bethlehem.  His atoning sacrifice, redemptive life, crucifixion, death and resurrection are present on the first Christmas morning.  Our understanding of his hopeful birth must include an appreciation of his forthcoming redemptive death.  Christmas is more than the exchange of commercial gifts and a seasonal sentimentality in which we concern ourselves with the plight of others. 

Its meaning far exceeds the bastardization of Christmas that emerges through an emphasis on food, fun, vacation, games, travel and presents.  An authentic celebration of God’s incalculable gift of His Son, our Lord and Savior, is perennially omitted.  In fact, it is secularized through the market place and a burgeoning pluralism, which undervalues the centrality of Christ.  Yet, the fateful events of betrayal, denial, abandonment, false arrest and unjust sentencing that eventuate in Calvary and the first Easter are present at the original Christmas morning. 

In Matthew 2:1-12, the evangelist records the birth of Jesus Christ by detailing the visit of the Magi.  Traditionally, three wise men of the East initially inquire of King Herod about the whereabouts of the newborn “King of the Jews.”  They desire to pay customary homage by going and worshipping him.  Providentially, the Magi escape the trap of Herod’s duplicity and they find the Christ child.  They present him with gifts of gold, incense and myrrh.  Then, as now, monarchy and the heads of state exchange significant gifts. 

These presents foreshadow Christ’s emergence as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  They symbolize his coronation as the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”  The gold signifies the worth of Christ’s birth.  The incense indicates his priestly functions.  The priests burned incense as they received the offerings of the people.  A sweet smelling gum extract indigenous to the Middle East, myrrh was used to make perfume and other body oils.  Those were the fragrances carried by Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James and the other women who went to anoint the body of Jesus on the first Easter morning (Luke 24:1-12).  Essentially, the Magi’s Christmas gifts foretell the crucifixion and resurrection.

The Lucan account of the first Christmas reminds us of the hope that Almighty God offers to humankind in the gift of the Christ child.  Specifically, the poor and the oppressed can relate to the birth of Jesus.  “She gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”  (Luke 2:7)  Moreover, the angels appear to the nameless and countless shepherds, “living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.”  The angels proclaim great news!  A Savior is born.  He is Christ the Lord.  This proclamation brings great joy to all people. 

Then, the shepherds decide to “go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”  There, they find the true meaning of Christmas, the sacrificial gift of the Christ child.  In response, they tell others what the angels told them.  The shepherds leave “glorifying and praising God.” 

"The End was in the Beginning" - Part II

“The End was in the Beginning” – Thoughts for Advent 2010 Part II

The evangelist, Luke, depicts the Christmas story, as God’s preferential favoring of the poor and oppressed.  Whereas in Matthew, a revelation is given to the surrounding royalty, in Luke the shepherds receive the good news of the Savior’s birth.  God particularly shares this magnificent message with the shepherds whom the Magi and other rulers ignored.  In Christ, God offers salvation to everyone regardless of his or her social position. 

Accordingly, it is very unfortunate when the purpose of Christmas is quantified in the prices, quality and numbers of gifts that a person receives.  We have all been given the most wonderful gift that could ever be given.  In Christ, we have access to abundant and eternal life which means an appreciation of God’s unfathomable love, the heart to love others in word and deed, freedom from fear, liberty from oppression, and the ability to actualize the potential of one’s God given talents and natural abilities.  Luke insists that God specifically desire for the nameless and countless masses to know the true meaning of Christmas.

Further, Luke records that within eight days of his birth; Joseph and Mary to fulfill the rite of circumcision present Jesus in the temple.  After the completion of their purification according to the Law of Moses, they took Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.  There, Simeon prophesies over the Christ child: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.  And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”  (Luke 2:34-35)  His remarks suggest beforehand the events that will ultimately occur during “Holy Week.”  Mary’s soul will be deeply wounded as she observes the unjust crucifixion of her son, Jesus.  Fundamentally, Christmas includes Calvary.

However, the road from Bethlehem and the first Christmas to Calvary and the crucifixion includes the most important rest stop of Gethsemane.  The wonderful promise of salvation that began on the first Christmas morning could have been permanently thwarted had Jesus failed to stop in the garden of Gethsemane.  In that place, he kneels and asks if it is possible to avoid the bitter cup of Calvary.  He, in essence, requests to change the purpose of Christmas.  Thrice, Jesus pleads with God to find another way to fulfill the hope and covenant of Christmas.  Thankfully, Jesus eventually and sincerely says, “Yet, not as I will, but as you will.”  In making this prayer, Jesus fundamentally teaches us the meaning of Christmas in His example of obedience to God’s perfect will.

The end was in the beginning.  Present in Bethlehem on the first Christmas is the foreshadowing of the crucifixion and Calvary and the divine promise of the resurrection which follows on the first Easter morning.  However, Gethsemane is the critical connection between Bethlehem and the empty tomb.  As we celebrate the advent of Christmas and the joys it brings, we necessarily reflect upon the incalculable costs of salvation and eternal life.  God pays the ultimate price in the gift of His “one and only begotten Son.”  To fully appreciate this gift, we must travel to the garden of Gethsemane and genuinely recite the prayer that the Lord teaches us.  As we do so, we realize that Christmas opens the door to the abundant and eternal life of living within the will of God.

Living Down the Past

Living Down the Past – Part I

Living Down the Past - Philippians 3:7-16 - Recently, I listened to a Christian radio talk show as I drove to a meeting.  A woman called in who felt she and her husband had made a seemingly irreversible mistake.  They had bought a big house with lots of property.  Before they caught themselves, they had put more than $250,000 into the property.  Upon appraisal, the property was deemed to be worth only half of what they had invested into it.  Now, they were seriously in debt without any apparent means to dissolve it.  She greatly bemoaned their choices and predicament.  Moreover, she remained flabbergasted about how they allowed themselves to fall prey to such an unfortunate set of choices.  Graciously, the host responded by assuring her that they could live this down.  He quoted a portion of Philippians 3:13, “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.”  His pastoral words encourage us that we can live down the past!

Periodically, the past blindsides us.  In the midst of countless mundane tasks, a flash remembrance of a former way of life passes across our minds.  Unconfessed sin lingers within our conscience like bubbling volcanic lava.  Unresolved emotional pains (guilt, regret, humiliation and harmful childhood experiences) lurk within the crevices of our minds.  Without a concerted and proactive determination to transform these memories into something personally beneficial, they paralyze us.

Two real examples from former professors make this point.  The first one was once told he was “competent but not distinguished.”  Regrettably, that professor internalized that evaluation of his work.  He actually never obtained a tenured teaching position during his career partially due to the fact that he uncritically accepted this hurtful and demeaning characterization of his work.  As if he were the protagonist, Heather Primstone, of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s immortal novel, The Scarlet Letter, this professor went about with that phrase emblazoned on his forehead.  The second one did not receive the favorable vote of a colleague in a tenure review.  His failure to gain the endorsement of fellow teacher who was well respected in the discipline deeply wounded him.  Until the day he died, that professor harbored an entrenched resentment and regret about that vote.  His inability to live down that experience relegated him to becoming an egomaniac with an inferiority problem.

Similar to the two preceding men, many of us are imprisoned by our past.  We still carry burdens of mistakes, failures, and embarrassment.  We cannot believe that we made such bad choices.  We would like to reach back into the sands of time and erase our footprints from some of the paths on which we traveled.  Like Michael J. Fox’s character in the movie trilogy, Back to the Future, we long for a time machine which will enable us to reverse our past errors.  Yet, our inability to live down the past is the very thing that empowers it to arrest our imagination, discipline, creative abilities, and willingness to work toward a brighter future.  We cannot define ourselves today by who we were yesterday.  In the teachings of the apostle Paul, we forget what lies behind us and strain toward what lies ahead.

The author of fourteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, the apostle Paul was a murderer.  In the opening verses of this passage, he details his impeccable educational, legal, cultural, tribal and personal credentials.  A man of formidable ego, Paul anointed himself for the task of ridding Israel of the emerging heresy of the early Christians.  This rag-tag, poor, illiterate bunch from the meager and humble origins of Galilee, in the name of an uneducated carpenter, were going about telling people that the Messiah had come.  They claimed that he was Jesus of Nazareth who had been crucified recently.  In Paul’s thinking, had they read and followed the law, they would have known, according to Deuteronomy 21:22-23, anyone hung on a tree were under God’s curse.  So, Paul utilizes his influence with the Pharisees and obtains warrants to arrest and imprison these people.  More starkly, he sanctions their deaths as he smiles upon the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7:54-60.  Paul equates their deaths with ridding the body of cancer. 

After his conversion in Acts 9, Paul has the challenge of living down his past as a persecutor of the Church.  I posit that the memory of Stephen’s stoning and the torture and deaths of other early believers were the thorn in Paul’s side that he discourses upon in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10.  Perhaps, Paul prays and asks Almighty God to obliterate the least inkling of those treacherous deeds.  Instead, God reassures Paul of His daily grace, which enables Paul to live down the past.  In response to this incalculable gift of divine mercy and unmerited favor, Paul travels the world of the Ancient Near East seeking converts to Christ with the same fervor with which he once persecuted the Church.  It is as if he will eradicate the past by painstakingly and diligently building a new future.

Living Down the Past - The Conclusion

Living Down the Past - Conclusion

Living Down the Past - Philippians 3:7-16 – Conclusion - Practically speaking, living down the past necessitates internal and spiritual resolve to strive for a brighter future.  The gospels describe the Lord’s determination to carry His message the masses, gathering in Jerusalem for the perennial Passover celebration, as flint.  His decision to end the public ministry in the City of David and place of the Temple was as firm as a mountain of stone.  I suspect that there is very little chance in accomplishing one’s heartfelt dreams and lifelong goals unless one possesses this kind of inner fortitude.  Of necessity, one must make peace with the past.

Had Paul continually dwelt on the horrible sins of his past, spiritual and existential paralysis would result.  He would waste his life in regret and guilt.  Instead, he finds a way to transform his past crimes into assets.  The book of Acts records three instances in which Paul shares his testimony with the purpose of encouraging someone to salvation in Christ.  Paul does not tolerate the devil’s periodic attacks through reminding Paul that he once persecuted the Church.  Paul, rather, proactively and humbly acknowledges his past deeds.  In so doing, he testifies to Almighty God’s love, goodness and mercy which change a murderer into a missionary.  While Paul refuses to reject his past, he recalls it as a way of helping others come into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

The great apostle turns his face like flint toward the goal of the high calling in Christ.  He does for Christ in three missionary journeys what he once did in serving the Pharisees, scribes and chief priests.  Paul practices resilience.  He harnesses the hard lessons of his past and uses that knowledge, wisdom and creative energy to spread the gospel and expand the kingdom of Christ.  Rubber bands demonstrate the spiritual characteristic of resilience.  Stretched to their outer limit, they possess the inherent ability to return to their original shape.  In difficult circumstances, past and present, we can salvage the diamonds in the rough.  As we mine our trials and tribulations, they make us richer spiritually speaking.  A former persecutor of the Church, lawyer and theologian who became a missionary is the best person to tell intellectual skeptics about veracity claims of Christ.  A person in recovery is the ideal person to tell others who suffer about the real meaning of life.  In both cases, the missionary and the person in recovery offers hope to a possible convert through the example of pursuing a new way of living with rock solid determination.

Essentially, the past must not determine the future per se.  Negative memories erupt within one’s mind like an unexpected squall at sea.  The useless emotions of regret, guilt and resentment appear on the horizon of the mind like dark clouds piercing a summer afternoon’s beauty.  Yet, you have the challenge of redirecting those thoughts to a useful purpose.  The daily and persistent practice of channeling past reflections toward a brighter future empowers you to live down the past.  Again, you cannot judge yourself today by who you were yesterday; neither should you allow others to do so.

In conclusion, the story of an anxious sailor captures the practical essence of living down the past.  A violent storm breaks out upon the water.  The ship suffers damage as the wind, waves and other elements batter it.  Most of the crew begins to fear for their lives.  They share their anxiety about the possibility of death and demise.  This sailor, adjacent to the wheel, feels similarly.  But, he looks over to the captain to see if he, too, is afraid that all will be lost.  To this sailor’s great surprise, the captain looks back, smiles and pats him on the back.  Then, the captain leaves and goes above to the deck.  Afterwards, another sailor comes to the one near the wheel and inquires about his level of anxiety.  The sailor replies, “I’m not afraid.  I looked at the captain and he smiled at me.” 

If you truly encounter the “Captain of the Lord’s hosts,” then you know the freedom from fear that the sailor feels.  If you see the Captain, then you know your past cannot permanently imprison you.  The smile of the Captain, in that story, is reminiscent of James Cleveland’s immortal gospel song, “God has smiled on me, He has set me free.  God has smiled in me.  He has been good me.” 

Flashes from the past cannot erase the eternal grace of Almighty God.  No matter the depths to which we may have sunk, the enduring unmerited favor and unfailing love of our heavenly Father enables us to redefine our lives.  In so doing, we like the apostle Paul, learn to live down the past.